precious Lord, take my hand

Be strong and of good courage, do not fear nor be afraid of them; for the Lord your God, He is the One who goes with you. He will not leave you nor forsake you.

Deuteronomy 31:6

Some think this great old gospel song was written by the famous big bandleader Tommy Dorsey. It wasn't; the author was named Thomas Andrew Dorsey, and he was the son of a Black preacher.

Thomas was born in a small town in Georgia in 1899. When he was about eleven, the Dorseys moved to Atlanta where Thomas was quickly enamoured with the blues and began playing the piano as a vaudeville theater. Later the family moved to Chicago where he attended classes at the College of Composition and Arranging. Soon he was on stage under the name "Georgia Tom," playing barrelhouse piano and leading jazz bands.

After being converted in Chicago in 1921, Thomas began writing gospel songs and trying to get them published. It was discouraging at first. He later said, "I borrowed five dollars and sent out 500 copies of my song, 'If You See My Savior,' to churches throughout the country...It was three years before I got a single order. I felt like going back to the blues."

He didn't, and gradually his reputation grew and his work became known.

In August, 1932, while leading music in St. Louis, he was handed a telegram bearing the words, "Your wife just died." He rushed to a phone to call home, but all he could hear over the line was "Nettie is dead! Nettie is dead!" A friend drove him through the night, and he arrived home to learn that his baby boy had also died.

"I began to feel that God had done me an injustice," Thomas later said, "I didn't want to serve Him anymore or write anymore gospel songs." But the next Saturday, while alone in a friend's music room, he had a "strange feeling" inside--a sudden calm and a quiet stillness. "As my fingers began to manipulate over the keys, words began to fall in place on the melody like drops of water falling from the crevice of the rock:

Precious Lord, take my hand

Lead me on, let me stand

I am tired, I am weak, I am worn..."

Today Thomas A. Dorsey is remembered as the "Father of Gospel Music" and the author of hundreds of gospel songs including his equally famous, "Peace in the Valley."

Taken from the book: Then Sings My Soul

to have a heart

We have a friend.

A very sick friend.

This friend is a father to two and a devoted husband to his wife.

His name....Mr. Jim.


Mr. Jim has had heart problems since birth.

He was the youngest to ever undergo heart surgery...at six-months-old. Doctors predicted that he would not live through childhood. Thankfully, they were wrong.

Now, Mr. Jim is 37 and has been put on the heart transplant recipient list.

I plead with you....ask of you.

Please lift this man and his family up in your prayers.

He is waiting. Patiently waiting for a new heart--a gift of life.

To read the whole story, click here.

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mirror, mirror on the wall.

For the past ten years, the girls have shared a bathroom with our parents, and my brother has had the upstairs bathroom. After my brother got married this past July, my sister and I have joyfully taken over the "western-themed" room. :)

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Soon after moving our toiletries into the small space, we decided to make our mirror special.

We call it....the prayer mirror.

The sis and I have added many names that are on our hearts and minds. Some prayers have been answered, and with thankful hearts, the names have been removed. Others have been lifted up in prayer time and time again.

Some days, it is easy to get tired of praying for the same names over and over and over again. Sometimes, we may think, "Really God? I mean, when are you going to ever answer my prayer?"

"And all things, whatever you ask in prayer, believing, you shall receive." (Matthew 21:22) There you are. Right there, in that verse, it tells us that whatever you ask in prayer, believing, you shall receive. Are we believing what we are praying? Are we confident that God will carry through with His end of the deal and answer our pleas?

Acts 6:4 says: "But we will give ourselves continually to prayer...." Sometimes, it is easy just to brush my teeth or take time in the bathroom and not even glance at the "prayer mirror." Shame on me. Even if it may grow to be "boring" taking time to pray for the same people over and over again, this verse tells us to give ourselves continually to prayer. Every day. Multiple times a day.

One of my favorite verses on prayer is Proverbs 15:8b: "....but the prayer of the upright is his delight." If I am living right and doing His will in my life, God not only hears my prayers, they are His delight! What an amazing thought! God, in His wonderful magnificence, hears little me prayers....however insignificant they may be. When I think about all the "upright" people in my life, that is such a honoring and humbling thought...that He would take the time to listen to my pleas and be willing (if it is His will) to fulfill them. Yep, amazing.




"I love you more than..." notes that the sis and I have written to eachother.



So, next time we want to skim over our prayer lists, or maybe skip it for the day because it may not seem like God is answering them in any way, just know that (if you are living an "upright" life) He is answering them....even though it may not be in the way we would like.

May we all be the prayer warriors for God that He has called us to be. Bless you, lovely.